Stevelele
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 30, 2009
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About a year ago, I was walking in my neighborhood and strolled past a storefront with some of the most beautiful hand made stringed instruments that I've ever seen. I was ushered into the store by a luthier, named William Del Pilar, who makes all of his instruments himself. His father was a fairly well known luthier, and William has been perfecting his craft for decades.
William is an eccentric fellow. He spoke to me non-stop for a couple of hours about his bracing system and how it works and why it doesn't matter what woods are used. I don't have the knowledge about acoustics or stringed instruments to be able to determine whether he's a genius or whether he's more talk than anything else, but I am sure that he is sincere. His bracing system, BTW, is patented (not a figure of speech--he actually has a patent http://www.google.com/patents/US6169236), and in his storefront, he has some very nice testimonials, including from well known stores like the Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island, who wrote to him and said that they believe that his bracing system is a substantial improvement on what preceded it and that his guitars produce a sound that marks an impressive advancement. And I listened to his guitar playing. I'm not expert in guitars, but they did sound pretty amazing to me. Maybe they're not different from other guitars, maybe they are, but they sounded great.
I ordered an ukulele from him about a year ago. No, he's not an experienced ukulele builder--he's built many small instruments like mandolins, but not so many ukuleles. I knew it was a risk, and I recognize that ukuleles are different from these other instruments and that this ukulele may be overbuilt or have some of the flaws that guitar builders produce when they try to make ukuleles. But I decided, what the heck--his payment plan was pretty good--he wanted to be paid month by month, and I wanted to support a local community guy, so I went for it.
He's not done with it yet, but I've visited him every month, and the instrument is shaping up to look gorgeous. Of course the only reason I bought it is because of the sound that this bracing system is supposed to produce. If it can have some of the same qualities of the guitar he played, I will be very happy.
I know that some will say that the patent is not that impressive and that it's no different from a regular fan bracing. Or that there are many patents out there, and that this is no more than a marketing gimmick. I don't know how to resolve those questions--I'm sure many of the luthiers who frequent this board might have a view. Anyhow, I'm just writing this post as an introduction to a post that I'll write later about the actual instrument.
Here is an article about William and his father that appeared a while back in the new york times:http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/03/nyregion/master-guitar-makers-are-leery-of-their-art.html?
And here is a more recent article on the bracing system (along with a sound sample of one of his dad's guitars): http://www.brooklyntoday.info/news/168-guitar-maker-takes-a-leaf-out-on-natures-book.html
To be continued....
William is an eccentric fellow. He spoke to me non-stop for a couple of hours about his bracing system and how it works and why it doesn't matter what woods are used. I don't have the knowledge about acoustics or stringed instruments to be able to determine whether he's a genius or whether he's more talk than anything else, but I am sure that he is sincere. His bracing system, BTW, is patented (not a figure of speech--he actually has a patent http://www.google.com/patents/US6169236), and in his storefront, he has some very nice testimonials, including from well known stores like the Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island, who wrote to him and said that they believe that his bracing system is a substantial improvement on what preceded it and that his guitars produce a sound that marks an impressive advancement. And I listened to his guitar playing. I'm not expert in guitars, but they did sound pretty amazing to me. Maybe they're not different from other guitars, maybe they are, but they sounded great.
I ordered an ukulele from him about a year ago. No, he's not an experienced ukulele builder--he's built many small instruments like mandolins, but not so many ukuleles. I knew it was a risk, and I recognize that ukuleles are different from these other instruments and that this ukulele may be overbuilt or have some of the flaws that guitar builders produce when they try to make ukuleles. But I decided, what the heck--his payment plan was pretty good--he wanted to be paid month by month, and I wanted to support a local community guy, so I went for it.
He's not done with it yet, but I've visited him every month, and the instrument is shaping up to look gorgeous. Of course the only reason I bought it is because of the sound that this bracing system is supposed to produce. If it can have some of the same qualities of the guitar he played, I will be very happy.
I know that some will say that the patent is not that impressive and that it's no different from a regular fan bracing. Or that there are many patents out there, and that this is no more than a marketing gimmick. I don't know how to resolve those questions--I'm sure many of the luthiers who frequent this board might have a view. Anyhow, I'm just writing this post as an introduction to a post that I'll write later about the actual instrument.
Here is an article about William and his father that appeared a while back in the new york times:http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/03/nyregion/master-guitar-makers-are-leery-of-their-art.html?
And here is a more recent article on the bracing system (along with a sound sample of one of his dad's guitars): http://www.brooklyntoday.info/news/168-guitar-maker-takes-a-leaf-out-on-natures-book.html
To be continued....
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